Campus to open Canine Development and Wellness Facility

by Katherine Fernandez

Tue, May 7th 2019 11:00 pm

Cooper Hall is well known for being the home of the Brockport Child Development Center and the hub for Delta College students. Though passersby are used to seeing children frolicking in the playground adjacent to the building, soon there will be puppies joining them. Plans to add a doggie daycare section to Cooper Hall have officially been announced and construction is set to begin June 10, 2019.

People often say that having a puppy is the closest thing to having a child without the painstaking labor. Although the accuracy of this analogy is arguable, many new pet owners agree. Sophomore Jesse Saxophone has struggled with raising her six week old Dachshund, Weiner, but is excited to have help from the doggie daycare staff.

“Weiner has little legs but is constantly active” Saxophone said. “It’s hard to keep up with him and train him while trying to maintain my studies and extracurricular stuff too.”

The new doggie daycare, which is set to be named the Canine Development and Wellness Facility (CDWF), will employ licensed animal behavior specialists that can teach man’s best friend to obey commands such as “sit” or “roll over,” as well as potty training and socializing them to be friendly with other dogs. The facility will also offer grooming services and an onsite paraveterinary worker.

The Psychology Department is discussing possibly implementing a Pet Psychology class where students would work with the professionals at the CDWF to learn how to “read your dog’s body language, identify signs of stress and enhance communication and reliability with your dog,” according to the proposal drawn up by CDWF Service Chief and Brockport alumnus Daniel Doggo.

“Pets are a huge part of our lives and our children’s lives, we should be putting more effort into understanding them and properly communicating with them” Doggo said. “When I began to invest time into my dog, he quite literally became my best friend. I have deeper conversations with him than most people I meet.”

Doggo is referring to his best friend Bandit, President of the Good Boy Society for emotional support dogs. Through Doggo’s work he successfully trained Bandit to verbally communicate, eventually leading Bandit to become self-sufficient and intelligent.

“Daniel and I have been attached at the hip from the moment we met,” Bandit said. “I was a rescue and had a lot of past trauma that I was carrying. Daniel really opened his heart and his home to me and it made all the difference. I want every dog in the world to have that same kind of relationship. This is where that process happens.”

Bandit is a prime example of the good that would come from the establishment of the CDWF. President of the college Elise Worthington is equally as supportive of the new addition to campus, thrilled at the prospect of getting closer with her own furry friends at home and giving students at Brockport the unique opportunity to learn how to do the same.

“Here at Brockport we aim to create a space where you can really feel the sense of community, and developing a thorough understanding of our pets is another way we can expand that community,” Worthington wrote in a recent press release announcing the development of the CDWF.

In that same press release, Worthington stated that construction is slotted to be complete by February 2020 and the opening ceremony will be held February 14, 2020.